There is a street in Austin, Texas named Gun Fight Lane. It is near Shotgun Ln., down the street from Ammunition Dr. and just off of Gatling Gun Ln. I guess this works in Texas. I bet there's not a Gun Fight Lane in East St. Louis, Illinois or Detroit, Michigan.
I'll bet this well-to-do white neighborhood was built prior to Columbine.
Speaking of Columbine, was it ever clear from Michael Moore's documentary that American's are not just so much in love with guns as that they are just basically paranoid? - it's the combination of the two that sparks danger.
Even a more interesting point from Moore's movie is the fact that all Americans lock their doors - a symptom of their general paranoia. (By definition - an unjustifiable fear that "someone out there" is "out to get me")
Most of my life I've hardly ever locked my doors. I consciously do not lock my doors unless I see a good reason to do so.
I mean why does it take a movie to point out that you can open your door and look around on the street and bascially see that there are not criminals running around looking for unlocked doors? Isn't it obvious?
But our media tells us otherwise.
And we listen to the media and form a world-view in our minds (a map) which is not congruent with the world that we can see and sense all around us (the territory.) Isn't this the very definition for insanity?
Korzybski thought that it was this incongruity between the mental "map" of the world and the objective "out there" of the world - the actual territory - that defines insanity.
I think Americans exemplify this incongruity best with their fear of "the bad guys" by the simple execution of always locking their doors. Cars or houses. We always lock 'em up and usually set an alarm, too.
I spent a couple of nights at a good friend of mine last week. I couldn't leave his house to go to my car or even step outside for a few moments without always unlocking the doors. They live in an quiet neighborhood with mostly old people.
I bet if you walk up and down Gun Fight Lane in Austin, Texas and check the doors - every one will be locked. The homes are on average $180,000 to $200,000 homes. All white with no criminals in site.
I wonder if in the days before air conditioning, when everybody sat out on the porch and walked and talked to the neighbors, if they locked their doors everytime they stepped in and out?
[Remember in "Bowling for Columbine" Michael Moore did the same test in Canada, by walking up to houses to check if the doors were locked and they were all unlocked - in contrast to the American homes tested]
Hmmmm, what is it we have lost here? Something important, but I'm not sure what. Maybe we should go over seas and kill all the "bad guys" before they get a chance to come over here and kill us. Am I sounding paranoid now? I better turn on the news and check.
[Full text of Korzybski's "Science and Sanity" here. But you should read some of the reviews here - very interesting.]
I recall hearing my father talk about the days when you never locked your doors and always slept with your windows wide open. Unfortunately, not all of us live in rural America and even if we did, we would not necessarily be comfortable leaving the doors unlocked and windows open. Media certainly has great influence in our society; almost a fourth branch of government or an instrument of the other three. However, during those times when they actually report facts, rather than speculative opinions or harmful propaganda designed to mesmerize the arm chair zombies; well quiet frankly, it's scary enough to make one paranoid; especially if you have young children.
ReplyDeleteJohn Wayne Gacy
Ed Gein
Son of Sam
Ted Bundy
BTK
All white, demented, criminal murderers. Over half in this list of the macabre appeared to be fine upstanding citizens; probably why they had such successful careers in crime.
Let's not forget the daily crimes that take place in countless cities where people justify bad behavior as "stickin' it to the man". What man? The insurance adjuster? The guy at Wal-Mart that gets fired for something you took? The company that employs you? The person who's guitar was stolen from his home? If everyone had the same values and those values were not oppressive to anyone then I might leave my doors unlocked in the big city, but... "life is NOT like that, you know?" : ). Besides, if they really want to get inside, they will.
"A man in a suit can still more money than any man with a gun."
- Don Henley, End of the Innocence 1989
I tended to think the same way (most people are paranoid, etc.), but having joined my neighborhood listserv and seeing the crime stats posted up, I've tended to come around to the "lock the doors" mindset. Interestingly enough, most, if not nearly all, the thefts that occur in our particular neighborhood (older neighborhood with a fair mix of young and old...mostly white...in center of Austin) are done when someone leaves their door unlocked. In other words, the "criminal" just opened the car door or the house door, walked in and took something. Mostly they stole car stereos (on unlocked cars) and jewelry/cash (in unlocked homes). They also tended to walk in on people when they were home, but then ran when they realized the home was occupied. There have been a few cases where people were threatened or beaten in their homes (really), but that seems more rare and usually, again, during the day when they thought nobody was home. So, in a sense, you're not necessarily in danger of being hurt or hurt badly. But why give them the opportunity to take something of yours? The APD liasion for our neighborhood sends out these stats every month. And people also post up when something happens to them. In general, I don't find people so much fearful as they are trying to remain aware and help each other out.
ReplyDelete...i'm not against locked doors per se... i think its good preventative medicine on the same order as wearing your seat belt... i do think that the American public is out of kilter on the perspective of just how much burlaries and violent crimes happen... its all perspective... and yes, "people just try and be aware and just help each other out" but i would still submit that the cost/benefit ratio of the cautiousness-paranoia (cost) to safety-security (benefit) isn't worth the effort and stress in general.
ReplyDeleteI'd like to see the statistics you mentioned.
I'd also like to know the reality of that little test that Michael Moore does on the attitudes and locked doors of the American people vs. Canadians.
wow... thanks for the stats... good reality check. Any idea of the population in this zip code? the 53 stolen cars surprises me. I'd be curious how many of stolen cars reported, were wives, owner's children and reports that get rectified... I bet its closer to 40%... also the 19 aggravated assaults - how many were two friends beating each other while drunk, or family fights. Sure this is all legitimate violence also, but the stats just seem to evoke feelings of some guy just walking up to you on the street and beating you up... you're probably right about when you talk about the friendly neighborhood environment of people walking and talking outdoors. That's great to hear. Thanks.
ReplyDeletewhen i'm out of the house of course i'll lock the doors. but while i'm home i prefer to keep them unlocked. i'll welcome any invaders with the silent death of my razor sharp samurai sword. one clean slash, bury the body in the back somewhere and mop up the floor. you can't buy that kind of guilt-free adrenaline rush.(hey he was here to kill me and rape my wife so why not)
ReplyDeletei'll welcome any invaders with the silent death of my razor sharp samurai sword
ReplyDeleteYeah.
This one time. In Louisiana. Me and my cousin. Were ridin' motorcycles. And we had machine guns mounted on the handle bars. And this mountain lion jumped out. And I like shot him. And my dad made a rug out of the skin. No. Really.
F.P.
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